Abstract:
The decision of Information Technology Outsourcing is considered to be the survival or
failure factor in modern hyper competition environment. This is closely related with mobile
telecommunication companies as Information Technology (IT) is considered to be the part
and parcel of its industry. However, lack of initiatives to tackle IT operational efficacy
through Information Technology Outsourcing has been under attention of both researches and
practitioners. Nevertheless, eagerness to identify which factors influence a successful
Information Technology Outsourcing decision has been remained untouched in academic
literature in relation to Sri Lankan mobile telecommunication industry. Hence, the objective
of this study was to identify the factors that influence Information Technology Outsourcing in
mobile telecommunication companies of Sri Lanka.
With careful review literature, three main categories of influential factors were identified
namely Strategic, Economical and Technological. A conceptual framework was developed
using above three factors and three hypothesis were developed. Ninety seven professionals
from three leading mobile telecommunication companies (Dialog Axiata, Mobitel Pvt Ltd,
Etisalat) who represent top management, middle management and senior technical staff
participated in this research. An online questionnaire was designed using Google Docs which
was distributed among participants via email. Out of the responses 68% of effective
responses were selected for data analysis using SPSS version 20. Spearman‘s correlation
coefficient technique was used for hypothesis validation.
With the results, it is evident that there is a strong positive correlation between Information
Technology Outsourcing, and economical factors (such as cost reduction and company
growth) and strategic factors. Moreover, there is moderate strong correlation between
technological factors and Information Technology Outsourcing. As a conclusion economic
influential factors were highlighted as most influencing factors towards Information
Technology Outsourcing decision.
